The genius of poetry must work out its own salvation in man. It cannot be matured by law and precept, but by sensation and watchfulness in itself. That which is creative must create itself."
These words by John Keats express his philosophy of creation. Poetry was all about appreciation of beauty for its own self. His poetry is marked with vivid imagery and sensuous appeal.
Unlike Wordsworth and Shelley, Keats' love for beauty, especially natural beauty was for its own sake. He did not read any ‘message’ in nature. He enjoyed nature and beauty just as it was. Sensuous and sensitive, Keats is the archetype of the romantic poet. Though he never lived to write the poetry of "the agonies, the strife of human hearts", which he aspired to, he has given some immortal works which are likely to be remembered by generations to come.
Keats And His Family Background
Tracing John Keats' lineage, we find that he came from a middle-class background. His father, Thomas Keats, was the head ostler in a livery stable owned by Mr John Jennings. Thomas married Jennings's daughter, Frances. Mr Jennings soon retired leaving the management of the stable to his son-in-law. Thus John Keats (his three brothers and one sister included) was born at the stable, by the sign of The Swan–and–Hoop, on Finsbury pavement, facing the then open Lower Moorfields, on October 31, 1795. By the time the youngest child, Frances Mary was born in 1803, the family had shifted to a house in Graven Street, City Road.
Though coming from humble backgrounds, both Thomas and Frances were quite intelligent and clever. Especially Frances, was a understanding and affectionate parent. The family was a very close-knit one, especially the bond that John and his mother and the brothers shared.
Education
Aspiring to give the best possible education to their children, the parents chose Rev John Clarke’s School at Enfield, a well-reputed school located among pleasant atmosphere. John started going to school in 1803. In the very next year, that is in 1804, Thomas met with an accident. He fell from his horse as he was riding home one night from Southgate. The fall killed him (April 16, 1804). After a hasty marriage of Mrs Keats’ to one William Rawlings, and an equally hasty separation the Keats family went to live with the recently widowed Mrs Jennings at Edmonton.
Mr Jennings was quite comfortably off, financially. Apart from a number of legacies, which yielded a fixed income to his daughter, he had put a sum of £ 1,000 in trust for the Keats children. And so the next four or five years passed quite pleasantly and comfortably for John.
In school John was spirited and generous, quarrelsome and forgiving, handsome and lovable, and a natural leader. He was passionate in both tears and laughter. But beneath this facade he concealed (except from his brothers) a streak of painful sensibility, subjecting him to moods of unreasonable suspicion and self-tormenting melancholy.
The Keats brothers had always been close to each other. George, the second brother, was quite like John, except that he was less impulsive, bigger and stronger. Tom, the youngest brother was ‘delicate’ from childhood and was always protected by his two elder brothers. Their sister, then a child, was also bonded by the strong family sentiments.
The Book-lover
Initially, Keats showed no signs of being intellectual or artistic. He was methodical and orderly in what he did, but not studious. It was only when he was 14–15 years old, that he diverted his energy to studies. He soon became so engrossed in the pleasures of reading that he would always have a book in his hands – even before school and during play-hours. He preferred to read, rather than to play and won several literature-prizes in school. He soon exhausted the school library, reading every book of history, travel and fiction. Mythology was something that he enjoyed tremendously. During this period he took upon himself to translate Aeneid from Latin into English prose.
Death Of Mother
But trouble soon followed. John’s mother, Frances, already disabled by chronic rheumatism, fell ill and finally died in February 1810. John’s devotion to her was very much evident and he would not allow anyone else to attend to her, give her medicines or cook her food. He would sit with her for the entire night, reading novels to her.
Ready To Face Life
Within a few months of Frances’s death, Mrs Jennings executed a deed thereby putting her now orphaned grand-children under the care of two guardians. Most of her property was now to be held in trust by the guardians, till the children came of age. Although Mrs Jennings survived the execution of the deed by about four years, Mr Abbey and his co-trustee undertook the responsibilities and the management of the trust. By the end of 1810, John was withdrawn from school and readied for life. He was just 15 when he was apprenticed for five years to a surgeon, Mr Hammond, at Edmonton.
The study of medicine did not lessen his passion for literature and whenever he could spare time; he would go to visit his friend Cowden Clarke, at his old school in Enfield. They would exchange and read books and discuss them. Around this time, he had finished his translation of Aeneid.
Keats : The Poet
But he had still not written or attempted to write any poetry. Then one day, Cowden Clarke introduced John to Spenser. They read the Epithalamium in the afternoon and Keats carried The Faerie Queen with him when he went back. Keats was delighted with this new world opened up to him. Charles Brown, one of Keats’ many friends recalls, "Though born to be a poet, he was ignorant of his birthright until he had completed his 18th year. It was The Faerie Queen that awakened his genius. In Spenser’s fairyland he was enchanted, breathed in a new world and became another being; till, enamored by the stanza, he attempted to imitate it and succeeded." This, his earliest attempt, The Imitation Of Spenser was his first volume of poems and "it is peculiarly interesting to those acquainted with his history."
Secretly and shyly, Keats began writing sonnets and other verses, on various subjects, including his political impulse. But it was not until 1815 that he showed anything he had written to anybody, even his friend and confidante, Cowden Clarke.
Study Of Medicine
Keats had more than a year left of his apprenticeship, when he quarreled with Mr Hammond in the summer of 1814. Subsequently he came to London. He was about 19 years old. He continued his studies in London and enrolled as a student in the hospital of St Thomas and Guy, which were united for teaching purposes.
John was a very attentive student. He attended his hospital and did his work regularly. He cleared his examination as licentiate at Apothecaries’ Hall with credit on July 25, 1816 and was appointed a dresser at Guy’s under Mr Lucas. His performance there was good and he was able to assist in the operations without problem. But by 1817 he was thinking more and more about leaving the medical profession and devoting himself to a literary life. The muse was steadily luring this ‘cheerful, crotchety rhymester’. He confessed, "the other day, during lecture there came a sunbeam into the room and with it a whole troop of creatures floating in the ray; and I was off with them to Oberon and fairy-land." For quite sometime now, his friends included young men of literary tastes and occupations. His verses were no longer kept hidden. They were freely passed around among friends and often attracted the notice and approval of writers of good repute.
Poetry - His Passion
By the time he was 21 years of age, John Keats had decided to opt for the muse. Mr Abbey, his guardian, was not very happy with this decision, but Keats was not to be swayed. There was no formal quarrel between them and Mr Abbey continued to manage the money even though Keats had come of age.
Gradually Keats’ circle of literary friends grew. He would discuss and compare verses, always advocating for beauty as against the interest of action or passion. By nature, Keats was gentle, pleasant, steady, and well behaved. As one of his friends had observed, "his absolute devotion to poetry prevented his having any other taste or indulging in any vice."
His Friends : His Mentors
By now Cowden Clarke had also left Enfield and settled in London. The two friends met often, reading together as eagerly as before. One of the first books they thus attacked was Chapman’s Homer. After a night’s study, the next morning Clarke received the famous sonnet, On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer, written by Keats. Cowden Clarke was also instrumental in introducing Leigh Hunt to Keats.
Hunt, along with his brothers, edited and published Examiner, a daily working towards improvement of English journalism. It was around 1816 to 1621, Hunt was the strongest intellectual influence on Keats. John Keats soon became a frequent and intimate visitor to the Hunt house. He admired Hunt and his 'extraordinary capacity for forming friendship'. They shared their interests and appreciation for poetry.
They accompanied each other in prison too. Both the friends were convicted for using libel language for Prince of Wales. They called him, '... a violator of his word, a libertine over head and cars in debt and disgrace, a despiser of domestic ties, the companion of gamblers,...' etc. Both Keats and Hunt were imprisoned for two years from January 1813 to January 1815.
Leigh Hunt also introduced Keats to a number of congenial spirits, prominent among them were John Hamilton Reynolds, the painter Haydon and the poet P B Shelley. He was also friendly with a Miss Georgiana Wylie, to whom George Keats was attached. Among Wylie’s friends was Joseph Severn, a struggling student of art. Severn soon attached himself to Keats with an admiring affection.
On The Stands
Keats’ passion for a poetic life grew steadily, aided by the encouragement of family and friends. Leigh Hunt first brought him before the world in print by publishing O Solitude ! If I With Thee Must Dwell in the Examiner, on May 5, 1816 and Sonnet On Chapman’s Homer on December 1 of the same year. He was soon encouraged to publish his first volume of poems and it was finally published in March 1817.
The book had moderate sales at first, but it stopped after a few weeks. Keats soon left London for the Isle of Wight, intending to devote himself to making a fresh start on his new book Endymion.
Financial Problems
About this time George wrote to John informing him of his financial difficulties. The trust funds amounted to about £ 8000, out of which the interest was to be utilized for the maintenance of the children till they came of age and then the principal amount was to be divided among them. But John’s expenses during his medical studies had to be raised on the security of the expected share. Similarly, Tom who was an invalid, had been advanced money and so had George. The Keats brothers were quite ill-informed about their finances.
Before John left London, he had come in contact with Merres Taylor and Hessey, publishers of London Magazine. He made an arrangement with them for the eventual publication of Endymion and started receiving some advance from them.
After moving about a little, the Keats brothers decided to take up lodgings at Hampstead, with a Mr and Mrs Bentley. Hampstead was quite convenient for Keats for more than one reason. Its fresh air was beneficial to the invalid brother, Tom. The beauty of the fields and wood, along with the picturesque habitations were ideal for John’s own long walks and meditations. Keats's imagination could easily transport this countryside beauty into the landscapes of Arcadia or of fable-land. Moreover, it was conveniently secluded from London and yet in its proximity, and finally it was in the immediate neighborhood of one or two intimate friends. In such pleasant surroundings, the Endymion progressed well. It was here that he made new friends, Charles Wentworth Dilke, Charles Armitage Brown and Benjamin Bailey.
By now his Third Book of Endymion was nearing completion. Around this time, he started maintaining regular correspondence with his sister Frances Mary, or Fanny as she was called. The Keats family bond did not leave out the kid sister, but after their grandmother’s death, Fanny was the responsibility of the trustee. She was put in a boarding school, later living at Mr Abbey’s own house. He often spoke to his friends about Fanny with ‘great delicacy and tenderness of affection.’ His correspondence with his sister shows Keats’ character in its most attractive light.
Keats : The Balancing Factor
It was around this time that Keats encountered discord among his friends. Haydon and Hunt were on uncomfortable terms, and so were Reynolds and Haydon, each trying to instigate Keats against the other. But Keats never let this kind of thing disturb his relations with his friends. He wrote to Bailey around this time, "The sure way, Baile, is first to know a man’s faults, and then be passive. If after that he insensibly draws you towards him, then you have no power to break the link. Before I felt interest in either Reynolds or Haydon, I was well read in their faults, yet knowing them both. I have an affection for them both, for reasons almost opposite, and to both must I of necessity cling…"
Soon the Endymion was completed. The brothers were temporarily separated when Tom and George went to Devonshire for the sake of Tom’s health. Apart from composing minor and incidental poems, Keats did not take up any major work.
Champion
The Christmas weeks of 1817-18 were pleasant enough. Keats was the theatrical critic for the Champion newspaper in place of Reynolds, who was away. He was able to visit his sister, who was brought to London for the Christmas holidays, and he had the ‘immemorable dinner’ with Wordsworth. The party also included Charles Lamb, Monkhouse and Richtchie, the African traveler.
The month of February 1818 was perhaps the most prolific. Keats wrote a number of small but good pieces. By now his brother George had decided to marry and migrate to America. Tom had to be looked after, and so Keats joined his invalid brother at Teighnmouth, Devonshire. The Devonshire weather was not at its best. Keats writes, "you say what you will of Devonshire; the truth is, it is a splashy, rainy, musty, snowy, foggy, haily, floody, muddy, slipshod country. The hills are very beautiful, when you get a sight of them, the primroses are out, - but then you are in; the cliff’s are of a fine deep color, but then the clouds are continually viewing with them…." This weather allowed him only an occasional walk to enjoy the beauty of the scenery and the flowers. Besides taking care of his invalid brother, Keats was seeing the last sheets of Endymion through the press. He also composed Isabella, the first of his longer poems. This poem is written with much maturity and certainty of touch. He also read Milton’s Paradise Lost, swiftly grasping the very essence of its power and beauty. Keats’ power was maturing rapidly, but at the same time, the mysteries of existence and suffering, and the ‘deeps of good and evil’, were beginning, for the first time to weigh on his mind. "
"… and tho’, to-day,
I’ve gather’d young spring-leaves, and flowers gay
On periwinkle and wild strawberry,
Still do I that most fierce destruction see, -
The Shark at savage prey, - the Hawk at Pounce, -
The gentle Robin, like a Pard or Ounce,
Ravening a worm, - Away, ye horrid moods !
Moods of one’s mind !"
- ‘twas a quiet eve,
Light And Shade
All was not well with Keats’ world. Sicknesses seemed to be following him. Sickness had touched not only his brother, but many of his friends too. But more eminent was the certain pain of the family break-up.
George Keats had made up his mind to migrate to America, and use whatever capital he could get in business there. His long attachment to Miss Wylie culminated in their marriage. John and Tom both came to London to see the last of their brother.
Lost Love
Shortly afterwards, Keats met and fell in love with Fanny Brawne. She was a beautiful, high spirited girl who took care of Keats during his illness. Keats was very possessive and protective about her. It was a hopelessly tragic love affair. Even though they got engaged in October 1819 the wedding could never take place. She got married after Keats' death and led a normal life.
December 1818 witnessed the death of his brother Tom, leaving John in despair. Taking the money advanced by his friend, Brown, Keats went off to the countryside to devote himself to literature. George’s American speculations did not succeed and he soon wrote to John to send him fresh funds.
Trying to Cope With Troubles
Keats soon resolved to shake off his troubles and was determined to face them with a spirit. For the next two years Keats produced poems which give us the true measure of his powers, even when peace of mind and health did not stand by him.
When Keats returned to London, his will to face life sanely proved to be an illusion. He could stay away from his all-consuming object of love – Fanny Brawne for barely two days. The first meeting in about four months made him a passion’s slave again. Within a week he gave up all efforts to resist the spell and settled down next door to his joy and torment. He saw the future, "I shall be able to do nothing. I should like to cast the die for Love or Death. I have no patience with anything else." And the die was cast for death.
Soon Keats’ closest friends realized that something was troubling Keats, that he was suffering, even though Keats never revealed anything to anyone. He became reckless about his health and was taking a few drops of laudanum to keep up his spirit. When Brown accidentally discovered this habit, he made Keats promise not to take a single drop without his knowledge.
In January 1820, George Keats visited London for three weeks. Settled with his wife and child in America, George came to England to get possession of the remaining portion of the brother’s inheritance from the reluctant Mr Abbey. George also observed, "He was not the same being, although his reception of me was as warm as heart could wish; he did not speak with his former openness and unreserved, he had lost the reviving custom of venting his grief." He had also stopped writing.
Death
Keats’ condition began deteriorating and he was soon coughing blood. Friends were kind enough to nurse him. But the doctors recommended warmer climate for winter and in September 1820 John Keats sailed for Italy in the company of Severn. After a month’s journey and 10 days of quarantine in Naples, Keats and Severn came to Rome. Initially, he felt better, his mood was on the whole cheerful and thus thoughts were turning to poetry and verses. But on December 10, things took a turn for the worse. Violent fever accompanied by hemorrhages turned Keats' life into misery. He begged Severn to give him the bottle of laudanum, which Keats had entrusted to his friend while starting for Italy. Severn’s refusal to do so turned Keats’ appeal to despair. He tried to explain the gradual deterioration and tried to get the bottle of laudanum. For a while, he fiercely fought his friend’s ministrations to give in to his demand. But gradually the tumult of his soul abated. He tried to pass the remainder of his days in peace and contentment. After the first few troubled weeks, Keats normally lay quietly finding solace in his companion’s reading or in music. He would often ask the doctor, "Doctor, when will this posthumous life of mine come to an end ?" But his ‘posthumous’ life held out for about two and a half months and the end came to this brilliant poet on February 23, 1821, in Rome.
This simple epitaph was good enough for Keats – "here lies one whose name was writ in water." Finding it too abrupt, Charles Brown had the following carved on the stone :
"This Grave Contains All That Was Mortal Of A YOUNG ENGLISH POET Who On His Death Bed, In The Malicious Power Of His Enemies, Described These Words To Be Engraved On His Tombstone, ‘Here lies One whose Name was writ in water."
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